Chapter 14: The Division

"What's wrong Sakura?" Kizashi asked, sounding concerned.

"I... I don't know how exactly to say this, so I'm just going to be blunt about it. I have a second personality that sometimes takes control now."

Kizashi's reaction was not exactly what his daughter had expected. She had expected disbelief, uncertainty, even laughing and saying she must be joking. What he actually did was jerk in place as if he had been punched and need to catch his balance.

"Dad?" She asked, wondering what was wrong.

"You're certain about this?" Kizashi asked.

Sakura nodded. "Yes, she appeared along with us in Ino's jutsu. She claimed to be my dark side, every thought and feeling I ever had but never admitted to having. But she didn't seem dangerous."

"And this personality was... self-aware?" Kizashi asked, now sitting down on his favorite recliner while his daughter remained standing.

Sakura nodded again. "Yeah, like a real other me. Dad, have you ever heard of anything like this before? Ino was just as surprised as we are and right now I'd rather not ask her dad about this. He might take it as proof that Naruto hurt us in some way."

Kizashi closed his eyes and grabbed the arms of his recliner, looking like he was dreading something. Sakura noticed and couldn't help but think she had struck a nerve or something. But how? Why would this affect her father in such a way.

'He knows. He has to, no one would look like this if they didn't know anything.'

"Sakura, what I'm going to tell you is... probably not going to satisfy you." Kizashi started. "The sad truth is I don't have all the answers, but I do have something to tell you."

"What?" Sakura asked, sitting down as well.

"The Harunos have never been a clan, but we have always tried to be shinobi. The problem was we never really acquired a specialty so to speak. Now that's not really a bad thing. Lots of shinobi families that aren't real clans never really fit into a specific niche, and like my parents said it's better to be a jack of all trades than a master of only one. But at some point, one of our ancestors did seem to develop a power of sorts."

Sakura blinked. "You mean a kekkei genkai?"

"Who knows? Rumor and speculation got mixed in so the story got unclear. No one in our family knows who this specific Haruno was or what this power was, but the one thing they could agree on was it involved their mind in some way. If I recall correctly, some rumors claimed the ancestor developed a split personality at some point.

Sakura felt a chill down her spine. "But if this is true, why did you never tell me about it?"

"Because I didn't think it was true. Sakura, until now you've never had this problem. And I never had it, and neither did my parents or grandparents. I had no reason to believe this story was true. But if you're experiencing what you say you are, that's the only explanation that's coming to my mind."

Sakura looked down at her hands for a bit, feeling rather uncomfortable. "Do we have any scrolls or books or anything from our family that I can look through?"

"Nothing you haven't already seen I'm afraid." He told her.

Sakura sweatdropped. "Actually, I haven't looked through most of them."

Kizashi blinked. "I gave you those when you were in your last year in the academy. You mean you've been completely ignoring our family legacy all that time?"

"You ignored it too!" Sakura rebuttled defensively, looking at him again.

"No, I only ignored an incredibly vague tale that was likely about a jutsu taken out of context. I read our history and trained in our skills. What were you doing with them when you had the chance Sakura? Please don't tell me you were just looking for something that would impress the Uchiha boy."

Sakura's shoulder slumped and she adverted her gaze.

Kizashi groaned and facepalmed. "Why am I surprised? Sakura, all this time, you never bothered to learn our stances, our jutsu, our secrets? How did you become top girl in your class? What all have you learned?"

"Dad, I've been able to accomplish a lot." The pinkette defended.

"Sakura, if Ino never bothered to learn one of her family jutsu, would you think she had accomplished as much as she could have?" Kizashi challenged.

Sakura blinked and her father's stance began to come into perspective for her. "I... I'm sorry Dad. I was young and stupid. But if it makes you feel any better, my dark side did make it clear to me that I had to make some changes in my own life. I guess this is one more that I didn't realize."

"Yes, this is one change you need to make. Though I do realize that saying that sounds like I'm saying you should listen to the voices in your head."

The two paused to share a laugh at that.

"On a similar note, what does your dark side think of Naruto?" Kizashi asked.

Sakura blushed. "She's... very fond of him. She says I had feelings for Naruto this whole time but refused to acknowledge them, so they all went into her. So she's basically got several years of repressed feelings that she can enact once she comes to the surface."

Kizashi nodded in understanding. "You say she can take control over you?" Sakura nodded. "How does that feel?"

"Honestly, when it happens I don't even notice. It's sort of like what I think an out-of-body experience would be like. When I get back into control, I can remember everything she did, and the weird part is as confusing as it feels, none of it actually feels wrong. She hasn't done anything that I don't like. And she said her only goal is to make Naruto happy and have me and her 'combine' in a way."

Kizashi nodded again in understanding. "Do you know what triggers her taking control? Or returning it to you?"

Sakura shook her head. "No, I haven't found any pattern yet."

"Keep looking into it, and while you may not like it I do recommend seeking professional help even if it comes from Ino's father. It's not like he can blame your condition on Naruto after all."

Sakura fidgeted a little, remembering her dark side's theory on Kyuubi's chakra having an effect. "Yeah, you're right." She admitted. 'It has to be coincidence if there's potentially some family history. Kyuubi's chakra couldn't possibly have that kind of effect on me... right?'

Rather than waste time searching for Naruto like the other night, Hinata decided to go right to Tsunade. The hokage had been busy so Hinata had to wait an hour before being able to see her, and she felt better talking to Tsunade in person about this rather than rely a message. So to kill time, she went to get a drink.

'Might as well.' She thought after purchasing a drink from a shop, and activated her byakugan. As expected, she couldn't see the whiskered blonde anywhere. Wherever he was hiding it was one hell of a hiding spot. 'It's so weird, he was never able to hide this well back when we were kids. I mean it's not like I searched for him every day, but when I did want to find him I always could. Has he always had a hiding spot this good and I just never knew it? Or is this recent?'

While she was pondering this her eyes caught an unexpected sight. She could see Ino walking down the streets, not looking too happy, and heading her way. Considering that there was no way Ino could know the Hyuuga heiress was here, Hinata concluded that Ino wasn't coming for her. That gave her a good idea what the platinum blonde was planning. So Hinata walked towards her.

"Hi Ino." Hinata greeted when the two girls got close enough to talk.

"Hinata, what are you doing here?" Ino asked, coming to a stop.

"Probably the same thing you're thinking, but I already tried. Hokage-sama won't be available for at least... 45 minutes I think."

Ino sighed in frustration. "Great. We've got to do something. I refuse to have Naruto be afraid to be in his own home just because my dad's being a jackass."

"What was his problem anyway? Does he hate Naruto-kun?" Hinata asked.

Ino looked around and decided there were too many people around, even though none of them were paying attention. "He claims he doesn't, but from what he said he might as well hate him." She replied, walking away while Hinata followed. "Dad's afraid that if any Yamanaka is seen being nice to Naruto, that we'll share his stigma."

Hinata looked confused. "By 'we' do you mean the three of us or your clan?"

"My clan." Ino answered with a little bitterness in her voice. "I can't freaking believe him. He sees me trying to help out a boy that this whole village screwed over and all he cares about is whether or not anyone will use it to say something bad about him."

Hinata narrowed her eyes and put a hand on her chin, thinking over something. "I don't think that's it."

Ino blinked. "What? What do you mean?"

"My father is a clan head too. For a while he kept distance from Naruto-kun to avoid stigma just like your father. But he didn't do that forever, so your father has to have more to his motive than just that."

"Well another thing he said is it's because Naruto is blonde like we are, so people already suspected that Naruto may be an abandoned Yamanaka. He's not though." Ino added.

Hinata nodded in understanding. "Okay, with that in mind it sounds like your father is afraid that your clan is already affected by Naruto-kun's stigma via indirect association, which means he's worried that you having a relationship with Naruto-kun, i.e. direct association, will make the clan suffer more."

"But it's stupid! It's been fifteen years since the attack and Naruto's done so many great things since then! Are people in this town still refusing to get over it?!" Ino practically shouted. Then she shook her head and put a hand on her forehead. "What am I thinking? Of course they are. I myself the other day said people still only see the reasons why not to help Naruto."

Hinata frowned and nodded. "You're right. Even if they're not using the attack as an excuse anymore, most people are still judging Naruto-kun based on outdated views. It's like they don't want the stigma to go away. They don't want Naruto-kun to be anything special."

Ino closed her eyes, looking like she wanted to punch someone in the face. "I bet that's exactly the problem. For years all the adults shunned or judged him, even when he was just a child. But then he started being a hero rather than the monster they feared or the nobody they expected. Naruto proved that they were the wrong ones, they were shallow and cowardly and ungrateful. But rather than admit it, it's better to pretend that Naruto was never a hero in the first place. That he's never done anything to deserve better treatment. That's why they keep seeing the worst in him, because then they don't have to see it in themselves."

Hinata kept her frown. "I won't let this last. I don't care if people feel guilty about what they did. They deserve it for being so ungrateful to Naruto-kun for keeping them safe. That's why I'm trying to talk to Hokage-sama so we can get started."

Ino looked to the white-eyed girl. "Hinata, while I agree with you, how exactly is that going to work? I mean, Hokage-sama is already close to Naruto and she's made no real progress. Even the Sandaime was close and he had over a decade to fix it. What solution can we come up with now that will get results?"

"Whatever it is, it will have to be drastic. No more hoping the problem will solve itself or expecting Naruto-kun to perform a miracle. Are you willing to help?"

Ino smiled. "Absolutely."

"Yeah Naruto, can we talk?"

The whiskered blonde had been going through some katas when he heard his name. Looking to his left he saw Shima, the other elderly toad that had helped him over the years. Fukasaku had usually been the one to get Naruto to use his head while Shima had more often been the shoulder to cry on when he needed it. This made him feel better being in her presence.

"Sure, what's up?" He asked, coming towards her.

"It's not that we don't like having you here at Myoboku, but you've come here twice in two days. What are you hiding from?"

"I'm not hiding from anything." Naruto defended.

Shima shook her head. "Fukasaku told me that the other day you were having girl problems, but you manned up and went to address them. Are you back because it didn't work out?"

Naruto sighed in defeat. "Sort of, but not how you may think. The girls were great and everything more or less was cleared up. But their dads don't want them anywhere near me."

Shima had to think this one over for a moment before she responded, giving Naruto an opportunity to sit down.

"Naruto, it is normal for most fathers to be protective of their daughters. Especially when they start showing interest in boys. After all, they were teenagers themselves once too and they know what it is that teenage boys want from teenage girls."

"I don't want that!" Naruto insisted.

Shima looked skeptical. "Naruto, look me in the eyes and tell me you genuinely have no desire whatsoever to have sex with a girl."

"I... I'm not a pervert!"

"That's not what I asked."

The whiskered blonde threw up his hands in exasperation. "All my life I've heard nothing except how terrible perverts are and now I've got people saying it's okay? It's one or the other make up your damn minds!"

Shima rubbed her face, in a way that was virtually identical to a human rubbing the bridge of their nose. "Naruto, that's the problem right that. You're thinking in absolutes. Yes there are times when perversion is a bad thing, but there are times when it's a good thing too."

"Yeah I heard the girls say that too, but that just makes no sense to me. How can something be good one moment then bad another? That's like saying fire can be both hot and cold, and that's just not how it works." Naruto protested.

"Let me put it this way. Sugar works when used to make cookies right?" Shima asked and Naruto nodded. "But does it work when making ramen?"

Naruto made a disgusted face. "Eww no. You use salt not sugar."

And if you used salt when making cookies?" Shima added. Naruto still looked disgusted. "Notice how one ingredient works in one recipe but not in another? How it's not a 'one recipe fits all' kind of ingredient? Do you see where I'm going with this?"

"I'm not talking about sugar or salt, I'm talking about sex." Naruto spat out, wanting this to end.

"My point still remains. You want this to be an absolute because absolutes are easy to take a stand on. It's easier to know what to do when there are only two choices and grey areas aren't a factor to consider. But that's not how it works. And if you keep trying to make it be that way, then you're left with only two possible options on this matter. Either all sex is acceptable, or none of it is. Which of those two choices are you going to go with Naruto?"

Naruto groaned and closed his eyes. Sakura, Ino, and Hinata had made him feel accepted and wanted in a way he never had before, and truth be told he didn't want to lose that. But their father's dismissal of him was bringing back all of his old refusals and it was driving him crazy that this time there was no clear answer. It had been easy to refuse his urges when he had no reason not to refuse them, but now he did and his prejudices were getting in the way, with no beautiful naked girl or three there to help him feel assured.

"Why can't this just be easy to figure out?" He asked, sounding like he was desperate for someone to just tell him what to believe now.

Shima got closer and put her webbed hand on him reassuringly. "Kid, if love was easy to figure out would you really want it?"

"What should I do? If you were me, what would you do?" The whiskered blonde asked.

"I can't tell you what to do, but I suppose if I were in your shoes, I would go back there, look these girls right in the eyes, and ask myself if standing up to their fathers is worth it or not. From there it's up to you."

Naruto sighed and hung his head. "And if their dads try to kill me?"

Shima chuckled. "All dads say that but they never actually do it. Though they will try to make you think they can. But if you need a little confidence booster, let me point out one thing you might not have realized." Naruto raised an eyebrow. "If these girls aren't worth it, why are you here tearing yourself apart about it?"

Naruto blinked and the gears in his head started turning. Now he smiled. "You're right, they are worth it. Which means that I need to make their dads know that too, whether they like it or not." He then stood up with more confidence. "Just don't be surprised if the next time you see me I'll need medical help."

Shima smiled. "I prefer to think that the next time I see you there will be a hickey on your neck."

Naruto arched an eyebrow. "What's a hickey?"

"Maybe before you go to those girls, you should have the talk with a proper adult." The old toad advised.